I like the idea of adapting Ellison's version, but I don't know how they're gonna get 5 issues out of a 50-page teleplay. They either have to add a bunch of new material, or "decompress" the narrative to a point of excruciating s l o w n e s s.

Could be interesting. I wonder if they got the idea from Dark Horse doing the same thing with the original The Star Wars script.

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probably.

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Or it could just be case of IDW finally getting around to doing this, but Dark Horse beat them to the punch with their project. I think it's been known for a long time that Ellison's original treatment was very different from the actual episode.

"Presenting Harlan Ellison's brilliant original script for 'City on the Edge...' has been a goal of ours since IDW first began publishing Star Trek comics in 2007." --IDW’s Editor-in-Chief and CCO Chris Ryallhttp://www.idwpublishing.com/news/article/2754/

There isn't a "Trek VII Yesterdays Enterprise The Movie" script. Rick Berman said later that, in retrospect, that story could have worked for a generations crossover. I'm not sure I really agree with him; I'm not sure the best way to introduce Star Trek: The Next Generation to film is with an alternate timeline version of Picard's crew.

The alternate path on Generations was Maurice Hurley's script, which had Picard consulting with a holodeck Kirk when the Federation was attacked by an enemy from outside normal space.

As for the rest of your list, don't forget Roddenberry's "The God-Thing" and the Eddie Murphy Star Trek IV. There's also Walter Koenig's pitch for Star Trek VI, "In Flanders Fields." And some of the early developmental scripts for Star Trek II would be interesting.

I'm not sure the best way to introduce Star Trek: The Next Generation to film is with an alternate timeline version of Picard's crew.

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true i guess it couldve been the Ent D in the 23rd century... 'Tomorrows Enterprise'

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Maybe.

Personally, I think "All Good Things..." would've been better suited to a crossover film. Replace the pre-"Farpoint" Enterprise-D with a post-Khitomer Enterprise-A, and have Picard "leap" into the A's replacement for Valeris on its journey home.

So is this the version of the story where Kirk orders a firing squad for a guy dealing drugs on the Enterprise?

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The firing squad is present only in Ellison's first story outline, from March 1966. It is not present in the revised outline (May 1966, iirc), nor in any of the two and one half versions of his teleplay that I've read.

I like the first cover better. It's nicely evocative of vintage paperback SF novel covers. This, while well-rendered, is more of a generic floating-heads-in-space cover, aside from that buttressed palace or whatever in the background (perhaps a rendering of how Ellison originally described the Guardian or its environs?).

I like the first cover better. It's nicely evocative of vintage paperback SF novel covers. This, while well-rendered, is more of a generic floating-heads-in-space cover, aside from that buttressed palace or whatever in the background (perhaps a rendering of how Ellison originally described the Guardian or its environs?).

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I miss those old vintage paperback SF covers myself. I think they're far more interesting then photoshopping the characters onto a cover. The photoshops almost always look awful and unimaginative.

have Picard "leap" into the A's replacement for Valeris on its journey home.

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Funny you should say that. When ST VI came out, George Takei was again suggesting (with renewed vigor) at conventions a "Captain Sulu/Excelsior" series or movie with a young Picard being involved. And he also was recommending ST VI's enthusiastic cameo player, Christian Slater, in the role.

Whoa. Is Ellison finally mellowing in his stance on Star Trek? I think that may be one of the signs of the Apocalypse...

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I agree. I thought he'd never agree to be part of something like this because he was so bitter about his story being modified the first time around.

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If he were as bitter in 1967 about "City" as he was in 1996 when White Wolf published his long screed, then "City" would certainly have gone out as "Written by Cordwainer Bird." In my opinion, the fact that it didn't and he let it go out with his name on it speaks volumes about how Ellison felt about "City" at the time.

I suspect that Ellison's views hardened as Roddenberry began to trash him and mischaracterize the script as the years went on.